•The P2P is **ONLY **to share updates via your OWN NETWORK.
•Telemetry - this is nothing new, Microsoft has collected logs and crash data from their OSes and Software for years. Even Apple does it with OSX. But if you are that paranoid download NTLite and remove Asimov.
•Real-Time Protection is there for a reason, to protect people. You can turn it off for varying intervals but yes it turns back on automatically to keep you protected. If you install a 3rd Party Antivirus like Trend Micro, Avast, etc. Windows 10 automatically disables Windows Defender.
•Cortana is a Web-Based service. The volume of data needed to make it work properly would not fit on most computers. But if you are that paranoid you can turn Cortana and Web Search off. On the taskbar click on the Magnifier icon, then click the Sandwich Icon top left, then click settings and turn Cortana and Web Search off. Then right click an empty space on the taskbar, click search and then hidden.
•Content-Suggestions - Yes the ads are there, but you can go to Settings>Privacy>Manage my Microsoft advertising and other personalization info - This will open a webpage in your default browser. Once signed in you can turn off Browser-Ads (from Microsoft), and OS ads (from Microsoft)
•WiFi Sense - This is really easy to turn off, go to Settings>Network & Internet>Manage Wi-Fi Settings and turn off "Connect to networks shared by my contacts
•Automatic Updates (Forced Updates) - these can easily be turned off as well - go to Settings>Network & Internet> Advanced Options and turn on "Set as metered connection". This will have to be done for every network you connect to so don't forget.

Edit: There's a lot of talk about MS "keylogging" everything we type. That's just not true as there is no evidence of any key logger in the files (they're pretty easy to spot seen as every antivirus is has heuristics designed to spot these things). What it does do though is use phrases and words you type into things such as Cortana or your browser and feed them back to MS to improve autocomplete and the relevance of Cortana answers. This is also the same as what Google and Apple do with their products. You can also opt out of sending feedback to MS by going 'settings > privacy > feedback & diagnostics'.

I get that everyone has their backs up about CISA and an Orwellian society but lets take things based on evidence rather than drawing conclusions from speculation and possibly even the desire to make companies seem as evil as possible at the moment.

I like the content Wonderboy posted. And I'd like to point out that for all those who "debunked" Windows 10 spying on you with the preview version (who swore those features would be removed), guess what? They weren't.

Still no mention of the Windows 10 key logging feature. That alone is scary and I haven't seen that addressed by those combating disinformation.

I have worked to create BI platforms for companies in the past, and while the information Microsoft is collecting (with the exception of logging your keystrokes) is seemingly benign, I'd like to point out that mashing that information together can paint a very detailed picture of you. And that picture is available to any advertiser who is willing to pay. Example: Even if your physical address wasn't ever shared with Microsoft, your Bing searches and such alone could reveal enough information that, when assembled using smart data analysis, could pinpoint where you live. An example of this can been seen here where a Harvard professor identified 40% of "anonymous" participants in a high-profile DNA study case.

With information collecting like this, it makes it even easier. And here is where it really rubs me the wrong way: The DOJ feels it doesn't need a warrant to get to this information. If it is being collected by a cloud service, then the DOJ feels they have a right to it. In contrast, if that information were to remain on your computer only, law enforcement must obtain a warrant to get it.

Are people making this out to be a "the sky is falling" scenario? Yes. But I don't think we should ignore the implications of what is happening slowly but surely.

If you choose to use another antivirus (even free) the real-time protection is disabled. It's only there if you have nothing protecting you at all, in which case I can't understand your objection to a base level of protection higher than 0.

In light of this ad solitaire shit, you know TONS of malware authors are going to target this opportunity to infect people's PC with a "Ad free, free solitaire game". Poor grandmas everywhere are going to get infected.

If you haven't already decided on a flavor, check out Mint (Cinnamon). It works great on a USB HDD that I can plug into my work laptop and boot to, without messing up my work (read: locked down) Windows machine.

This isn't bad advice, but Mint is a little behind on security updates -- that's why I switched away from it.

In addition, most distros can work on USBs, not just Mint, and I don't think it'll work any "better" than any other distro on a USB stick, either. I used Kali on a USB stick for a while on my work computer as well.

My advice is to start off with a flash drive persistent install (lili usb is a great program for creating them, very user friendly) to screw around with it a little bit at first, both to verify that your hardware will work well with linux, and to settle on a distro and desktop that you're comfortable with. After all, reformatting a flash drive repeatedly is faster and easier than repeatedly installing different distros only to find out one or more of them doesn't work worth a damn.

I'm sure there will be a wave of new Linux users but I don't think it will be sustained. You'll have some users who switch to Mac as well. In my opinion and from what I've seen, new users will get frustrated and go back. The culture windows fosters is "just buy a new PC". In the Linux world its "fix it yourself or with the community". My bet is on most people do not want to fix it themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Linux user and I'd love for the world to adopt Linux as the primary OS. I'm a realist too and I doubt windows 10 is going to push the world to switch, permanently.

Mint is nice. It's not my favorite distribution but it is very user friendly. Just don't try to deploy it over PXE lol. There are work around for a lot of the windows needs. Like pipelight is decent for viewing silverlight sights. I hate to admit this but Office 365, the online version, is pretty good on Linux. I mean it runs in a browser. There are different camps in the Linux world and I'm sure I'll get down voats for this next comment. From experience though, I've learned to ditch some of the built in stuff like icedtea and gone with the commercial stuff (free of course). Also, when all else fails and I really need a Windows box I just start up a VM.

I reckon if people used hardware that is in Ubuntu's certified list of hardware, they shouldn't really have too many problems. It's usually hardware incompatibilities that screw things up for me on my Acer laptop, but I've been able to get it to work flawlessly just by googling the problem. It's been working without issue for over 2 years now.

You are 100% right. Most of my Ubuntu problems are from hardware. I remember when UNR came out. Every time an update was installed I had to recompile my wireless drivers. I've recently adopted CentOS and it takes a little more configuration to get it where I need but I love it.

It may cause a migration over to mac if they follow the subscription model that I think they're going for. You buy a X years subrscription and then have to buy it again when you upgrade parts or time is up. It might not though because a lot of people are very sheepy when it comes to computers.

I think what really prevents a mass migration is not the lack of a user friendly desktop, but the simple fact that it doesn't come pre-installed on new computers. Many casual users don't even know what OS they run on (it's always Windows), and they wouldn't do anything to install a new one if it required them to push a button.

The day computer makers/sellers will offer computers with Linux already installed is the day we can hope casuals may start to consider it.

Coming from previous versions of Windows, it was less configurable and a significant departure from the previous UI, making it more difficult to support for IT professionals and a learning curve for beginners - plus more enforced cloud integration, and the whole tiles thing that made it feel like a Fisher Price My First Operating System.

What did you like about it? I haven't heard much praise but I am interested.

Ha. According to that logic nothing will ever happen. But things happen.

I don't think the masses will ever migrate to Linux. The masses don't understand the culture, they can't possibly take the time to get to know how Linux is put together and that it falls on you to fix your problems yourself.

I can see some gamers migrating to a free alternative OS thanks to Steam. The more games that support Linux, the greater the feasibility of having Linux being the main OS of a gaming PC. My next gaming rig will be running Linux Mint, for instance. Young gamers who move to Linux now may become the game programmers of tomorrow, especially if they have to tinker in order to get their favourite games to work.

I can also see some companies migrating to Linux too. Some people need only a browser in order to work, why not in a free OS?

Can you please tell me what I need to learn to use linux effectively? A few years ago I ran ubuntu on a craptop of mine (no bloatware) to help it run faster. It was the most enjoyable OS I have ever used, and was fast as all hell too. But whenever I ran into a problem I had no recourse but to copy and paste commands into the terminal. How can I avoid such debacles, what should I learn?

This may sound like a moronic question but it really is genuine. I figured you might be a good guy to ask.

Once you use it daily and use a "can-do" attitude when problems arise you learn the simple fixes for most problems, or become comfortable enough with documentation and command-line help(s) that you can fix a lot of things on your own.

In other words, you'll still need to use commands in the terminal, but it'll become second nature and give you freedom on exactly how a problem is resolved, or occasionally have the satisfaction of homebrewing your own workaround!

It gets a lot better when you get skilled enough not to be a forum slave. Of course, helping others on there is always a great practice too!

Whenever you have problems, don't just look for a quick solution. Research what is wrong with your system and why it's messed up. Eventually you'll have a pretty decent understanding of linux. Then, if and only if you still want to learn more, you should install a distro like Arch and apply the same methods. You'll learn a ton of things you don't even need to know to use linux properly that way.

I haven't answered right away because I wanted others to give you a real answer first.

The problem with the question is that I'm not in education and my way to Linux was very different from any way you need to walk today. I started with a Commodore C64 in 1984. Later it was an Amiga 500 (after that Amiga 3000). I used the CLI and tried shells that were ported/inspired by their Unix counterparts. The transition from Amiga to Linux was smooth.

Today I only use Linux on the server side. My current desktop of choice is a Mac. At work I'm forced to use Windows.

If you haven't settled on a distro, I recommend Antergos. It's lesser known but extremely powerful as it uses Arch under the hood, but unlike Arch it's extremely easy to install for linux newbies and looks beautiful right out of the box.

Actually it's much, much easier to "just try" Linux than Windows. Most of the user-friendly flavours (Ubuntu, Mint etc.) offer a live ISO that you can burn on a CD or mount on a USB (both of which are incredibly easy if you know anything at all about computers), and then boot it up.